Mucilage-moistener



, UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH DANVSON, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

MUClLAGE-MOISTENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 432,605, dated July 22, 1890. Application filed December 16, 1889- Serial No. 333,897. (No model.)

T0 at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH DAWSON, a citizen of the United States, residin at Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful M ucilage-l\loistener, and the following is a specification thereof.

This invention consists of a guide or guard, a wick, and a wick device, combined with a base containing a Well for holding water.

The object of this invention is to moisten the mucilage on envelopes, wrappers, postagestamps, or other gummed surfaces, and to dispense with the necessity of licking or moistening the same with the tongue preparatory to scaling; also to make an ornamental and doubly-useful paper-weight for officc use. This object is attained by means of a guide or guard, fixed or movable, attached to an adjustable wick device and by means of a wick which is saturated with water from a cavity or well in a base, said wick conveying the Water by capillary attraction to the mouth of the guard. Bypassing a gummed surface through the mouth of the guard the upper lip of the guard presses the gummed surface against the wet wick, and thereby moisture is imparted to the gum, and by drawing the upper right corner of an envelope through the mouth of the guard moisture will be imparted to the envelope, and by pressing a postagestamp upon the moistened portion the stamp will adhere.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of the completed device. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the completed device. Fig. 3 is a posterior cross-section of the guard and wick device. Fig. 4 is a plan View of the underside of the lowerlip of the guard, showing flanges on each side of an elongated slot. Fig. 5 is a side view of the guard, showing the two lips and the space or month between them, a buttress, and a flange and groove on one side of the lower lip.

Similar letters refer to similar parts in the several views. A

B is the base containing a water cavity or Well C.

NV is a wick extending from the well upward through wick device D and elongated slot S to mouth of guard G,where it impinges the upper lip U of the guard; Ii, lower lip of guard, containing an elongated slot S, the length of the slot being preferably a little shorter than the width of the wick-tube, in order that the solid portion of the lower lip may extend over the wick-tube and wick at E, thereby preventing the mouth of the guard from being obstructed by the wick as it emerges from the slot.

T T are flanges on the top of the wick-tube. F F are flanges underneath the lower lip L of the guard. These flanges T T and F F- interlock and hold the guard firmly on the top of the wick-tube and admit of the guard being slid off when necessary to trim the Wick.

The guard may be constructed of one or more pieces of metal, and the mode of securing the guard on the top of the wick device is capable of modifications too numerous to mention, all of which are used in various mechanical devices. R is a ratchet for adjusting the wick; M, buttresses at the rear end and between the upper and lower lips of the guard and on each side of the elongated slot. These buttresses prevent the edge of the gummed surface passing behind the Wick.

The base 13 is similar to an ordinary heavy glass inkstand, and the wick device D resembles a common lamp-burner. Therefore I do not claim either, broadly; but

\Vhat I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A guard comprising two lips made of one piece of metal, bent so as to bring the upper and lower lips horizontal and parallel with each other, leaving a space or month between them, the lower lip having an elongated slot, preferably a little shorter than the width of the wick-tube of the wick device, and flanges and grooves on each side of the slot underneath the lip, and buttresses at the rear end of the mouth, the front ends of the upperand lower lips being curved upward and downward, respectively, forming a broad entrance to the month, all as and for the purpose described.

2. A hollow base containing water, a wick device attached to said base, a wick. partly immersed in said water and actuated by said wick device, in combination with a guard at the mouth of the wick-tube near the exposed end of said wick, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. A base which is provided with a cavity for water and a wick device which is mounted thereon, in combinationwith a guard which is secured upon the wick device and is provided with a presser-lip', substantially as and for the purpose specified.

4. A hollow base and a wick device which is mounted thereon, in combination with a guard having a presser-lip which is located before the mouth of the wick device and at a slight distance therefrom, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

5. A base having a cavity for water, in combination with a wick device which is mounted thereon, and a guard at the mouth of the wick tube, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

' 7. A wick device having flanges at the top of the wick-tube, in combination with a guard having bottom flanges which are adapted to interlock with said first-mentioned flanges for the purpose of holding the guard in position at the mouth of the tube, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

8. A base having a well for water, a wick, and a wick device, in combination with a guard, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

To the foregoing specification of my invention I have signed my name this 14th day of December, 1889.

JOSEPH D AVVSON.

Witnesses:

CHARLES F. BROWN, JOHN J EWETT MOKIBBIN. 

